TEAM BIOFriends describe this adventurous duo as equally dorky and very cute, super supportive, and always challenging each other to reach new levels. They share a passion for positive thinking and a love of all living things, but they also know how to compete. These world travellers also share an affinity for sustainable living.

As avid outdoor enthusiasts, Kristen and Darren keep in top physical condition, complemented by their well rounded and worldly intelligence. Kristen knew they’d be a real threat on THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, as she explains that “Every obstacle, every experience good and bad, have helped us learn new lessons.” “Darren is pretty detail oriented,” says Kristen, while he describes her as “The most selfless person...she is up for anything. She is incredibly motivated and ACTUALLY can do anything she sets her mind to!”

Kristen was an MVP basketball player in her scholastic years and can make her own clothes, while Darren is extremely resourceful on little to no money.

Motto: “We believe strongly in equity for all living creatures and creating our own realities through positive thinking and sharing love everywhere we go.”

How will they plan to win The Race: “Using our fitness level, logic, resourcefulness, and maintaining a positive attitude towards each challenge.”

Number one roadblock as team: “Remembering to use our differences to our advantage instead of getting frustrated with each other.”

The team from Alaska is here, the Amazing Race Canada production assistant called into his radio, momentarily confusing Fairmont, B.C., with Fairmont, Alaska.

If Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp minded, they didn't let it show.

Idiens and Trapp are identified in Amazing Race argot as Dating Couple, but their other Amazing Race tag, The Hippies, has stuck  in part because of their look, and in part because of their unconventional lifestyle.

Idiens and Trapp, whitewater river guides who call Fairmont Hot Springs home in B.C., not Alaska are determined to live off the grid. They use recycled materials for building homes, so-called Earth Ships. They have travelled the world, doing volunteer work in Africa while promoting a sustainable lifestyle. Theyre into yoga  not that thereis anything wrong with that and, at this early stage in the Race, were determined to stay mellow and not let the TV cameras and constantly crackling radios harsh their buzz.

Their mantra may be, We believe in equity for all living creatures and creating our own realities, through positive thinking and sharing love everywhere we go but sharing love does not extend to saying, You go first, when it comes to The Amazing Race Canada.

They may be determined to live off the grid, but that doesn't make them technophobes: Their Twitter handle is @KristenDarrenBC; their hash tag is #kristenanddarren.

At the pit stop of the second leg of the Race, they were optimistic about the road ahead, using our fitness level, logic, resourcefulness and maintaining a positive attitude toward each challenge.

The Amazing Race prize if they win is $250,000 in cash, the opportunity to fly free for a year anywhere Air Canada flies worldwide  in Executive First Class, no less and a pair of Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays. Its hard to imagine hippies flying first class, let alone burning rubber in a Chevy Stingray, but thats what altruism and friends are for.

Idiens is serious about living off the grid, despite the optics of competing in The Amazing Race.

It takes a little effort and some planning, but it can be done,she said, and laughed at the irony of promoting a green, sustainable lifestyle while competing in a summer TV reality show.

I found out about it through her, Trapp said, gesturing toward Idiens. She dragged me into this.

I dont know how I found out about it, Idiens said, for her part. I think I just saw it online, to be honest.

Welcome to TV in the modern age, where river guides determined to live off the grid learn about a reality TV show by surfing online and deciding to dive in.

Idiens first learned of The Amazing Race while living overseas, in Mongolia, when she stumbled across Amazing Race Asia with her roommate one night while watching TV. The Amazing Race Asia has run for four seasons; The Amazing Race Canada is in its first season.

The moment I saw it, I said, Lets do it! Idiens recalled. We wanted to apply but then I found out, were not Asian so we cant actually apply. So when this came up, I was, like, Ohhhh! Lets do this.

We want to see the whole country, Trapp said, in explaining what he and Idiens hope to get out of Amazing Race. To win, you get to do that. But also, we already have a plan for the money, if we win. We want to put it towards developing a sustainable living community somewhere in BC.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

If you’ve been watching The Amazing Race Canada, then you know to root for Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp from Fairmont Hot Springs.

Hometown viewers rejoiced after witnessing Kristen and Darren dominate their competition and take first place on day one, which awarded the couple with a trip to Sydney, Australia and a head start on the next challenge.

“That was a good feeling,” Kristen told The Pioneer. “We had no idea that there would be prizes for each leg — it was so exciting.”

But since, their strong performance has been met with a couple of hiccups, stirring back-and-forthaction early on.

On the second leg, unexpected mishaps occurred. Their hard-earned early start was rendered moot when the teams discovered a flight from Kelowna to Vancouver was required and five of the teams, including Kristen and Darren, were all able to make it on the earliest possible flight.

Once in Vancouver, public transit let Kristen and Darren down as they exited Vancouver’s SkyTrain too early, and then failed them again when a cabbie delivered them to the wrong location.

To the camera, after citing Fairmont’s population of roughly 300 people, Kristen said, “We’re used to deer crossings, not human crossings.”

Both have spent time living in and navigating through cities, “but our confidence is definitely there when we’re in physical challenges in the mountains or in the forest,” Kristen said. “In the city, you have to rely on other people like when you’re taking taxis, which clearly didn’t work for us.”

However, Kristen and Darren weren’t deterred by the challenges, and landed in fourth place after the second episode. Only seven teams remain.

“After all the challenges we came across and the constant frustration that we felt, we’re pretty proud of ourselves to be able to persevere through all of it and come in fourth,” she said.

For viewers who can hardly wait for the next show, Kristen hinted at what’s coming up on July 29th: “Youwill see Darren get back to his Alberta roots and you’ll see him in purple bellbottom pants — a dreaded cowboy, what more could you ask for?”

She said they keep in touch with other contestants over email, and hope to travel to Ontario at some point to visit Body Break’s Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod.

The local contestants, who are now back home, have attended the Bear’s Paw Bar and Grill at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort for the airing of the first two episodes. While other obligations will prevent them from watching every new episode at the Bear’s Paw on Monday nights, the two are going to be there for as many shows as they can.The next Amazing Race Canada show airs on CTV on Monday, July 29th at 9 p.m. MST.

Kristen and Darren don’t regret not using the Express Pass on The Amazing Race Canada

by Ruth Myles.

If they had the chance to do it all over again, Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp still wouldn’t use their Express Pass on The Amazing Race Canada.

The couple was eliminated on Monday night’s episode after being the last team to reach the Pit Stop in Carcross, the Yukon. Their Express Pass, which allows teams to bypass any challenge of their choosing, remained tucked away in their backpacks. They chose to complete the task of building a raft and paddling out to retrieve a clue, seeing as they both work as river guides.

“We really didn’t think about it, because we were never planning on using it (the Express Pass). Ideally, we would have just thrown it in the garbage,” Idiens says on a conference call Tuesday to discuss their elimination. “We were there to have all the experiences that we could have. We didn’t want to miss out on any of the challenges.”

That decision means they are out of the running for the grand prize of $250,000, a pair of Corvette Stingrays and two yearlong passes anywhere Air Canada flies. (Given the couple’s eco-friendly background, it would seem likely the cars would be sold off to finance their current project. They working on creating a sustainable off-the-grid community “with all the luxuries of modern-day living” in B.C.)

The duo from Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C. would do one thing differently, though. Rather than giving their second Express Pass to the sister act of Celina Mziray and Vanessa Morgan, they would have gifted it to another team, or thrown it in the garbage “to even the playing field,” Trapp says.

You could say there was a bit of karmic comeuppance in their elimination. In Kelowna, the couple entered into an alliance with three other teams, agreeing to give the Express Pass to the next team in the group to reach the first Pit Stop. That ended up being married doctors Brett Burstein and Holly Agostino.

But Trapp and Idiens gave the pass to the sisters instead, seeing them as less of a threat. The sisters, however, used that Express Pass in the Yukon to land in fourth place.

“We did go back on our word,” Idiens admits. “It was tough for us, tough for them.”

That said, she finds it “unbelievable” that Burstein questioned her integrity about the pass given that he and his wife hid all the Alberta maps at the store in the Vancouver airport just before the teams flew to Calgary. Still, the couple has no regrets about their time on The Amazing Race Canada and have gained a new appreciation for the vastness and diversity of the landscape. And their relationship also survived the intense pressure that comes from being on the reality series.

“I think the strain would be the fact that you have to communicate, co-operate with each other,” Trapp says. “But with us, we had an end goal in mind. There was no time to bicker about the small things, just get it done.”

Idiens agrees: “You will have a stronger relationship (after the race), if it doesn’t fall apart.”

'Amazing Race Canada' Eliminated Contestants, Kristen And Darren, On Not Using Express Passes

By Chris Jancelewicz

It's hard to believe, but one of the front-running teams on "Amazing Race Canada" has been eliminated before the halfway point of the inaugural season.

The beloved "hippies," Kristen and Darren, packed their respective bags on last night's episode. They failed to use their safety net (their express passes), which would have gotten them straight through to the pit stop. Vanessa and Celina, so far paling in comparison to the hippies' performances, used their express passes and ensured themselves another week in the competition.

HuffPost TV chatted with Kristen and Darren about getting eliminated early, their one regret, and what the hardest element of The Race is.

HuffPost TV: What, in your opinion, was the event/occurrence that most contributed to your elimination?Kristen and Darren: We got poor directions to the first flag on the ice and it took us time to find the polar bear dip challenge, which ended up causing us to be on the third flight to Carcross.

Do you have any regrets?Our only regret is not throwing both express passes out as soon as we could. We gave another team a leg up, and we never really intended on using the other pass. We wanted to be a part of every challenge of the Race. We were there to have a great time, challenge ourselves and win it fair and square.

What was the hardest thing about The Race?The hardest part of the Race was relying on other people to help get us places. Taxis, directions, good intentions to help but it didn't always work out so well. Long days and little sleep made things interesting, and sprinting like crazy to make up for any lost time was always a mission. We did a lot of sprinting!

Who do you think is going to come in first place and why?Jet and Dave. They're a strong team and they work well together. Plus we've been convincing them what a worthwhile investment our sustainable community would be for them! [Laughs]

Kristen and Darren regret giving second Express Pass away, not failing to use it themselves on 'Amazing Race Canada'

By Sheri Block

It’s not easy being eliminated while still holding an Express Pass but Kristen Idiens and Darren Trapp say they don’t regret not using the pass that may have saved them on “The Amazing Race Canada.”

The dating couple from Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C., was eliminated on Sunday night’s episode in Carcross, YT, after choosing to do the raft building Detour challenge, rather than using their pass to skip it, putting them behind all the other teams.

“We don’t regret not using it, we regret giving (the second one) to someone else,” Kristen, 32, tells CTV.ca. “We’re wishing that we had just tossed both of them. Then it makes it a fair game for everybody.”

The team received both Express Passes after coming in first on the very first leg in Kelowna, B.C. Even though they had agreed to give the second pass to the team that came in second in their alliance (Holly and Brett) Kristen and Darren instead gave the pass to sisters Vanessa and Celina, who used it in Carcross and finished ahead of them.

Kristen and Darren, who arrived on the third flight out of Yellowknife, NT, along with Vanessa and Celina and Jody and Cory, don’t think the sisters would have made it to the Pit Stop before them without using it.

“We run faster than them, our physical abilities are much stronger than theirs,” says Kristen.

“We arrived at the events at the same time, we all got there on the last flight, so there’s no question,” adds Darren, 26.

Kristen and Darren say they actually had no intentions of using the Express Pass anywhere along the “Race.”

“Not unless it came to a really stupid challenge we didn’t want to do,” adds Darren. “If it’s a fun challenge we were going to do it.”

For Kristen, an outdoor adventure guide, and Darren, a white-water rafting guide, building a raft was definitely a challenge they wanted to do. The team just wishes they could’ve started it sooner by being on an earlier flight.

“As soon as that happened we were like, ‘This is killer. Now it’s catch up time.’ But at the same time we looked at Celina and Vanessa and the brothers, and in our experiences we already knew we could move faster than both of those teams, so we didn’t think we were going to get eliminated,” says Kristen.

In hindsight, the team says it might have been a better choice to give the Express Pass to Holly and Brett, as per the original plan, as the married doctors likely would have finished the leg regardless.

“We sort of looked back at our strategy of giving it to a team that we thought was weaker and with (Holly and Brett), they’re going to excel anyway, we should’ve just given it to them,” says Kristen.

“It’s kind of karma,” adds Darren, referring to how they didn’t honour the terms of the alliance.

Kristen and Darren, who are now working to develop a sustainable community in B.C., have experience in everything from kayaking and dog sledding to lifeguarding and doing yoga, and say their outdoor adventure skills definitely helped them during their time on the “Race.”

“Between the two of us, we have a lot of life experience . . . and I think it worked to our advantage while we were in it,” says Darren.

“Just being physically active all the time (also helped),” adds Kristen. “We didn’t train very hard for this just because our day is training. We went for a couple extra runs but that was it. Being physically fit in (the ‘Race’) is so important.”

The couple, who met around a bonfire in Fairmont a couple years ago and grew closer after working for an international children’s awareness group in Cameroon, Africa, say they are pleased with how well they worked together during the “Race.”

“We bickered but how do you not in a stressful situation? For the most part I don’t think we fought very often,” says Kristen.

“We lived in mud huts and faced a lot of interesting challenges (in Africa) together, which seemed potentially more life-threatening than being on the ‘Race’ . . . I don’t think it’s changed anything for us.”